Conditioning the air comfort of your space is very crucial as per your requirement. Air conditioning includes very wide range of technical works, from HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning), Refrigeration to Cold storage. Refrigeration and Cold storage design includes more technical calculation and more variations according to the storage type and needs special design. But choosing Air conditioning system for human comfort is more generalized and many of its specifications can be generally guessed with general thumb rules.
Major concerns you must consider for Air conditioning your space
- Air sealed space
Your space must be air sealed to condition the room as per our command to the device. However, you must take care that none can survive without taking fresh air from outside in a totally sealed space. Recent AC devices use a combined technology that also circulates fresh air from the outside. But you have to be careful that your space must be closed and more insulated from the outside environment, but fresh air circulation must not be blocked.
The doors, windows, and other openings must be minimized not to exposed to external. The normal wall works fine for the insulation and other openings must be taken into care. - Fine electrical connection
Air Conditioning (AC) system must be provided with a fine electrical connection not to disturb normal operation. Electrical connection type may vary from single-phase to three-phase line according to the type and capacity of the Air Conditioner. The switchboard must be viable but not vulnerable. The connection must be efficient and not disturbing. - Indoor and Outdoor unit location
You must have a very specific location and space to install indoor and outdoor AC units. This may vary according to the type, brand, and capacity of the AC system. In general, you have to take care of the location of indoor to provide you efficient flow of air and for the Outdoor unit, you must concern about the free airflow to the outer environment and the flow of drain water in right place.
Thumb rule for calculating Air Conditioner Capacity
First measure the exact dimension of your room. This thumb rule assumes room height of 8-9 feet, which is general floor height in Nepal. Calculate the floor area (in square feet) of the space you want to condition the air. Multiply the area with number 80. This gives you the total capacity of your conditioner British Thermal Unit (BTU). One ton of refrigeration or 1 TR (1 Ton in general) capacity means 12000BTU. Hence divide the obtained number with 12000 to get the capacity in TR.
Example:
Suppose one room with 12 feet breadth and 12 feet.
Total floor area= 12*12= 144 square foot
The capacity of Air conditioner in BTU= 144*80= 11520BTU
The capacity of Air Conditioner in Ton of refrigeration= 11520/12000TR=0.96TR
In such a case, we must choose the upper nearby available capacity of AC units. One Ton of Refrigeration is recommended in such a case.